Cotton seed meal-good or bad?

[dancingbear]

My feed guy carries cotton seed meal, and I've been wondering if it might be a good thing to add when I need to increase protein in the feed. I'd prefer to avoid soy. My choices around here are distiller's grain, soy meal, and cottonseed meal. I've used both soy meal and distiller's grain, using DG right now. I'd just like to know if they'd do well with a combo of layer mash with a little CSM mixed in to boost the protein.

 

[sjh]

Here is what one of the feed recipes from http://www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html says.
Cottonseed meal should be egg tested type low in gossypol.)

Here is the merk vet site on gossypol. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/211200.htm
Personely I would not use it

 

[Wifezilla]

I'm allergic to it. It is an industrial waste product. I have a problem paying for the privilege of taking away someone's garbage...LOL

Of course, given your options, it might not be that bad.

 

[HBuehler]

We used it a short while but our chickens pretty much just left it...it may be a decent protein source but kind of like kids with vegetables..can put it on the plate but can't make them eat it.

Thankfully my feed store has made an all natural unground feed now for chickens...best looking bird food around

You can order hemp which they just love..it's expensive but it won't go wasted.

 

[lilmouthy]

My chickens wouldn't eat it either. Our neighbor has cows and brought us over a bit to see if they would eat it. Put just a bit out several times and they wouldn't eat any of it.

 

[dancingbear]

Thanks, I won't be using it. My initial instinct was "NO!", but I wondered later if I was being paranoid. I wanted some feedback about whether this might actually be an ok source of protein. I usually add distiller's grain, which is a by-product of distilling alcohol, usually for drinking, sometimes for fuel, and it's worked out well for me.

But, I read some studies that had been done using DG. If the DG is a nice golden color, it's great. Increased growth, healthy animals, etc. However, if it's dark brown, or smells at all burnt or smoky, it has the opposite effect. Decreases growth, and so on. Lately, the DG available has been getting darker and darker, so I've stopped using it for now.

I went ahead and got a bag of soybean meal for now, as my 3 options are soybean, cottonseed, and DG. Maybe the DG will get lighter again soon.

I don't have a problem with the idea of using "by-products", as long as I know what they are, and have at least some idea how they're produced. We use a great many things everyday that are by-products of one process or another. Cream of tarter is a by-product of wine making. Bran is a by-product of grain milling (to make white flour). When I bake bread, I often use water from boiling potatoes, so you could say the potato water is a by-product of making mashed potatoes. Any kind of nut or seed that is pressed for oil, leaves a nutritious, protein-rich cake or meal behind, as a by-product. Some are more suitable than others, to feed either people or animals. I'm all for using as much of a thing as possible, and reducing waste, as long as it isn't something harmful.

 

[rtwoasis]

My girlfriend has allergies, so we have been researching peanut free, soy free, gluten free chicken feeds. Currently we are using a Milo (sorghum) and steam rolled oats based feed. We had to use split peas to boost up the protien level. Perhaps you might be able to use split peas instead of cotton seed meal?

 

[paneubert]

My girlfriend has allergies, so we have been researching peanut free, soy free, gluten free chicken feeds. Currently we are using a Milo (sorghum) and steam rolled oats based feed. We had to use split peas to boost up the protien level. Perhaps you might be able to use split peas instead of cotton seed meal?

9 years since the last post on this thread, but good idea anyway! Haha. It happens all the time. Welcome to the site!